Bypassing secrets initialize command

Users may want to do so when copying existing files from an older distibution to a new one.

Problem

Before doing so, they are a couple of steps to perform. They assume all required environment variables are set as expected.

Solution

The first step is to install required dependencies.

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt install cryptsetup -y

Then, you need to update the ownership of the directory containing decrypted secrets.

printenv # optional, but it is safer to double check
sudo chown -R "$USER:$USER" "$SECRETS_DIR"

The -R flag ensures all further subdirectories and files within your secret directory are updated with their parent directory (at once).

Then, simply execute command secrets unlock. It should proceed smoothly.

Installing R from source

I usually follow instructions given by Posit to install R from source. This allows me to have multiple concurrent versions of R installed and to have better control over them.

Problem

As of August 20^th, 2024, Posit recommends installing required build dependencies first with the following commands.

sudo sed -i.bak "/^#.*deb-src.*universe$/s/^# //g" /etc/apt/sources.list
sudo apt update
sudo apt build-dep r-base

This does not work on versions of Ubuntu greater than or equal to 24.04.

The sed call is a little bit cryptic. However, all it does is activate source dependencies maintained by the community in APT. It does so by uncommenting universe components of deb-src lines in file /etc/apt/sources.list. Ubuntu disallows them by default.

Solution

The workaround on Ubuntu 24.04 (or greater) is simple. First, open file /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ubuntu.sources with a text editor.

sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ubuntu.sources

Then, append deb-src to Types of URI http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu and ensure that universe is listed in its Components. The full entry should look like below.

Types: deb deb-src
URIs: http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu
Suites: noble noble-updates noble-backports
Components: main universe restricted multiverse
Signed-By: /usr/share/keyrings/ubuntu-archive-keyring.gpg

Save and close the file. Then, run the following commands.

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt build-dep r-base

Afterwards, you may follow usual Posit instructions starting at section Specify R version.